Bullet-proof and like garment and covering for horses and articles exposed to acts of warfare.



J. P. WILKS. BULLET PROOF AND LIKE GARMENT AND COVERING FOR HORSES AND ARTICLES EXPOSED T0 v ACTS OF WARFARE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. l- 1917- 1,2'39,329. PatentedSe .4,19171 2 SHEET EET l.

4 J. P. WILKS. BULLET PROOF AND LIKE GARMENT AND COVERING FOR HORSES AND ARTICLES EXPOSED TO I ACTS OF WARFARE.

1,239,329. PatentedSpt. 4, 1917. V

' I 2 SHEETS-$HEET 2.

,, Exiofiiiio ACTSOEWARFARE.

Be it known hat; "I; Josemsmeeyrwmg'sg; a subject ofthe Kingdom of" Great Bfitam;

residing.- at MarketZPIzice; Uttoizeter; she

certain new and fiSeft'Il Improvements: r m- AcqsUf-Warfaie; 04% which the f'nowinggis' a specification: I I

This-'inventidfi cdmprisesimprewementfs itt devices for *pretecting human -beings,' hdf's,=' and'articls 61 11seiii Warfare;findhafijbie particularly for ips urp-o'se tg) With'starid 6i" obstriictsuch flying missilfls afs bufll'e'tsi shrapnel, and the like, and alsb 'tewithetiiiid' The" present inventi fi com or? articles expes'd =te acts; d-f 3 warfar m siredshould" "he puncture-pr'dof."

tion may; be 0f textile fabrie, ah "tex- In relation to the outerpr free edges of fjh'e cases they are prefembl y outer edges of the flaps a, between which layers 7c, silk or silk fabric in irregular or Waste form, or cotton wool or the like Z, may be incorporated, the layers being quilted to maintain the material Z in position. Said layers K: may be secured around their edges to the covering, and if necessary or desirable they may also be secured to certain or all of the flaps a at the free edges thereof.

Fig. 3 illustrates an embodiment in which the layers are formed of pieces of textile fabric, each piece of which is folded into two, but in which, instead of the part near the fold being secured to the covering or base Z), parts remote from the fold are secured to said covering or base.

Such overlapping pieces may extend across the whole width of the inside of the outer cover or shield, in which case, they may be vertically plaited at intervals, so as to provide that amount of give required in a horizontal direction, or such overlapping pieces may be vertically cut at intervvals for allowing of the required freedom of movement, or separate overlapping pieces may be secured in horizontal rows, so arrangedthat the vertical divisions of one row overlap the vertical divisions of the previous row asillustrated by Fig. 4, thus forming an arrangement of the pieces in which the vertical divisions lie in planes disposed obliquely tothe planes of the layers, or in case of the vertical divisions between the overlapping pieces being at right angles to the planes of the layers, as shown in Fig. a a second series of overlapping pieces a secured to another textile covering 11 may be so combined with the first series a that the vertical divisions of the one series are covered by the central parts of the overlapping pieces of the other.

In some cases, pieces of woven wire, leather or other suitable material may be placed in between certain of the overlapping pieces, or the overlapping pieces may be composed entirely of woven wire, leather, or other such material.

The textile material I) to which the over: lapping pieces are secured is preferably of an elastic nature, and in some cases may consist of a light material, such as muslin, strengthened by strips of elastic arranged vertically, while the overlapping pieces a when formed of textile material may be so cut on the bias of the texture as to assist in.

that elasticity or resiliency which is required in connection with this invention.

In connection with such layers of fabric, a further series of layers or folds of fabric of close texture may be embodied, such as that generally .knownas tick, these layers or folds being combined in parallelism with the base layer, and said layers or folds together if desired with the overlapping pieces, may ,be preferably impregnated or 1 treated with resin, this impregnation or treatment being conveniently effected by rubbing'the fabric or other material with the resin either in solid or powdered form, or the resin may be molten and the overlapping pieces and layers immersed in it.

A series of wires may be secured to the aforementioned layers, such wires being secured in close proximity to each other on the respective layers, in such a manner that the wires 0 on the one layer intersect the wires d on the other layer, as illustrated by Fig. 5, which, however,-for the convenience of the drawing, shows the wires with more space between them than would be the case in practice, while such wires are so arranged of zig-zag or equivalent form along their lengths that no part of the wires of the mesh thus formed are in any way taut, but are capable of aresilient action at any point when struck by a bullet or other missile.

The wires are preferably formed of fine steelspringy wire a which forms a core to a spiral wire f of lesser gage which is wound around the core, and which spiral is preferably not closely coiled, but has a space between each of the coils of the spiral as illustratedby Fig. 9.

These wires are attached closely together so as to cover the face of certain of the layers of the textile fabric and various shapes in the length of the wires other than zig-zag may be substituted, so long as the shape is of such a nature as to allow a certain amount of resiliency at any point which the missile may strike, as forexample the wires may take the form of two flattened coils g, as illustrated by Fig. 7, the turns of the coils being interlooped. Such a dual coil medium may be attached in lengths to the surface of the fabric.

Instead of the zigzag or flattened coil media for obtaining the local resiliency, the wires may be attached to the fabric in short lengths, as illustrated by Fig. 6. The said lengths may. be arranged in lines, and the spaces between the respective lengths of each line may be located at positions adjacent to mid-points in the wires of the adjacent line or lines so that the said wires and the spaces between the ends thereof are. thereby staggered throughout the system. Such a system of wires in one layer may be incorporated withthe wires arranged at an angle to the wires of a similar system in another of the layers.

, Fig. 8 illustrates an embodiment in which the wire mesh 2' is applied to the fabric of which the layers are composed, this wire mesh being divided at intervals as indicated at 1'.

The section of the core wires may be square, round, or of other suitable shape, and the wires may be woven in with the fabric, and instead of being arranged on the abutting faces of two separate layers of fabric may be arranged on each side of one layer of fabric, while any number of such wire covered layers of fabric may be used.

The aforementioned protecting material may be embodied in the form of a garment,"

to protect any desired portion of the human body, or in the nature of a pad adapted to be disposed as a shield in front of the human body, or at the back, or both the front and back, While in the case of horses,

i it may take the form of a covering shaped'to ranged that space is provided between the protective covering and the article which it protects, so as to obviate a hard back ground or base to the covering, which would form such a solid resistance as would detract from the resilient action of the covering,

Copies of this patent may be obtained tor and thereby enable the bullet to pierce the covering. a

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is Bullet proof and like garments or coverings for horses or articles exposed to acts of warfare comprising a base or cover of flexible material to which sets of flaps of flexible material are attached, the flaps in each of said sets being attached at one end only and being attached to said base element at positions substantially close together, the

edges of said flap elements, remote from said base element thus terminating substantially together, there being a substantially large number of flap elements in each set,

said sets of elements overlappingv in such manner that said flexible elements only offer a satisfactory protection allover the surface it is desired to render puncture proof.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH PERCY WILKS.

Witnesses ARTHUR H. BROWN, EDGAR N. WHEELER.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. 

